Four Positive Habits to Protect Your Future Health

Four Positive Habits to Protect Your Future Health. When you are still young and fairly healthy, it can feel strange to even contemplate getting old, let alone living in a way that promotes health later in life. What young person wants to spend their time contemplating old age? But unless you spare a thought for your older self now, you’re less likely to build healthy habits into your lifestyle, which can be detrimental to your health prospects in the long term.

 So you do you look after your health as you age and promote longevity through your daily habits? These tips will help you live in a way that promotes longevity. 

Build Self-Esteem 

Studies show that having a positive self-esteem improves adherence to health-promoting habits in your day to day life. In other words, if you feel good about yourself, you’re more likely to set up healthy habits and stay motivated to do them on a daily basis. For many of us, a large element of good self-esteem is related to how good we feel about our appearance. This doesn’t mean that we should try to live up to unrealistic and toxic beauty standards, but that we should take pleasure in looking healthy and well. Maintaining an appearance that helps you feel confident is one way to stay young at heart. Whether you invest in All on 4 Dental Implants or take the time to get your nails done, looking after your appearance can help you feel youthful as you begin to age. 

Eat The Rainbow 

You’ve heard over and over again: a diet full of nutrient-rich and natural foods is crucial for a healthy body. Not only does maintaining a healthy diet help you find balance in terms of your energy levels, but it also aids your body’s natural defense mechanisms in the fight against diseases. There is a common misunderstanding that you can eat whatever you want when you’re young, as your body is more resilient. In fact, what you eat now directly impacts your health when you start to age. Everything from your bone health to your skin depends on getting sufficient nutrients over time. The sooner you start to eat well, the sooner you will notice a difference in your overall physical health. What’s more, you’ll be investing in the health of your body for years to come.

Drink Lots of Water 

Drinking lots of water every day is one of the best ways to ensure that you age well. For an average-sized adult, eight large glasses is a good rule of thumb when you’re working out how much water you need for the day. Drinking this much water might not be easy at first, and you might find it difficult to remember to keep topping up your hydration. Until you have your routine down, it may help to set calendar reminders or stick post-it notes around your home or office as constant reminders that you should be sipping on a glass of water. Remember, coffee and tea are not considered a replacement for water because they actually cause dehydration, so if you do drink coffee or tea, make sure you’re drinking extra water to compensate.

Take Breaks At Work 

A growing body of research is showing that one of the worst things you can do for your health is working too hard. Not only can working too hard result in burn-out (which will prevent you from being able to do anything as your body will be in shut-down mode) the constant stress can be extremely damaging to your long-term health, and contribute to a variety of health issues, especially when combined with other factors such as lack of sleep and poor diet. In this day and age, there is a strong cultural pressure to be constantly productive, so it’s important to make a conscious effort to resist the pressure and take breaks when you need them. 

The key to making your breaks beneficial to your health is to make them regular, and ensure that your breaks are proper breaks. Rather than waste little bits of time throughout the day on activities that are not restful and yet are not productive (like scrolling Instagram or reading the news online) it’s better to set aside time for genuine rest. For example, a ten-minute walk around the block after lunch can do wonders for your attention span, and help you feel ready for the afternoon ahead. Or, rather than eating your lunch at your desk, be sure to take a good old fashioned lunch break.  

Whether you’re twenty-five or forty-five, setting good habits in your day-to-day life is a great way to promote longevity and ensure your future health.